


Fixing the World + Chips + Take Away Food

by EWM



Series: Comfortember (myfirstone!!) [2]
Category: MacGyver (TV 2016)
Genre: 4x13, 4x13 MacGyver Season Finale, Angst, Bozer and Riley being awesome friends, Codex - Freeform, Comfortember, Desi and Mac trying to fix their relationship, Desi comforting Mac, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Hints of Smut, Mac and desi, Poor Angus MacGyver (MacGyver TV 2016)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-04
Updated: 2020-11-04
Packaged: 2021-03-09 01:20:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,897
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27376351
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EWM/pseuds/EWM
Summary: Okay entry two in Comfortember (only a bit late). This is my answer to the aftermath of 4X13. I would say Mac and Riley shippers stay away from this one.For me I really like the Desi character, but I thought some of the writing in 4x13 was a bit crap. So this me trying to fix itOh and the prompt wasFIRST DAY/NIGHT
Relationships: Angus MacGyver & Desiree "Desi" Nguyen, Angus MacGyver & James MacGyver (MacGyver TV 2016), Angus MacGyver/Desiree "Desi" Nguyen, Wilt Bozer & Angus MacGyver (MacGyver TV 2016), Wilt Bozer & Riley Davis (MacGyver TV 2016)
Series: Comfortember (myfirstone!!) [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1996306
Comments: 2
Kudos: 16
Collections: Comfortember 2020





	Fixing the World + Chips + Take Away Food

After Codex had been defeated, everyone was exhausted. It was over, but it wasn’t. Russ was raced off to hospital for his smashed leg. Mac and Riley were dragged to the Phoenix Medical centre for their wrecked lungs. Bozer did his best to keep them both entertained while they waited. Mac coughed his guts out and Riley was ready to collapse and struggled to keep her eyes open. Desi stood in a corner, breathing a sigh of relief that everyone was fine, while Matty ever the pragmatist worried about the clean-up from back at base. Eventually they were all allowed to go home. That’s when things became really awkward, Bozer happily offered to take Riley home to her new place. Much to her annoyance Matty insisted on bodyguards for all of them. Codex may have been temporarily defeated, but they were still out for their blood. Mac made noises about wanting to just go home and sleep, Desi reminded him gently but firmly that she was still his overwatch and he shouldn’t be alone. While Bozer thought they would all be fine, and it was all unnecessary. Matty cut through the annoying and only semi-coherent chatter and reminded them that it was an order. So Bozer and Riley went one way and Mac and Desi went the other, all of them accompanied by heavily armed men in cars.

Bozer and Riley managed to relax reasonably easily, he insisted on staying the night. He gently pulled Riley’s laptop away from her and settled her onto the sofa covered in multiple blankets. For once she was too tired to resent being cosseted, he then proceeded to pull out every takeout menu he could find and order all the food he could (on the Phoenix’s dime), he presented it all to her with great ceremony. He was too tired to cook and frankly he thought she would need some distracting (he was right), he cracked every joke he could think of, threw food at her, even tickled her (he got a kick in the ribs for that). He stayed away from Mac and Desi and the tangled-up mess that was their personal lives. He had his own worries about how all that would work out and Mac god he was worried about him and Desi too, he liked her, and they had all almost died. What a mess… again. Riley revelled in Bozer’s company, part of her knew that all his light-heartedness was put on, that he was deliberately pushing her brain away from all the poison of the last 48 hours and her messed up heart, but the rest of her loved him dearly for it. They ended up falling asleep with the TV playing in the background only slightly drunk (on a bottle of Whisky that Jack had left behind for her). The guards remained unobtrusive and uncommunicative outside the door (even though Bozer had nicely offered them take out).

Mac and Desi didn’t have as much fun. Mac for a start had a few breathing issues, his lungs were damaged (again) and he spent the first half of the evening rasping on the sofa while Desi presented him with lots of tea and what leftovers she could find in his fridge. There was a lot of arguing about taking medication and pain killers (she had Jack’s knack for stubbornness). Mac conceded in between snorts of protest. Desi gave up on the fridge by the second half of the evening and ordering in as well (Mexican), they ate the tacos in a weird and painful silence. Mac attempted a conversation more than once but after he started coughing for the third time, Desi simply held up her hand

_“Just go to bed Mac. You need to recover.”_

_“What about you??”_

_“I I’ll sleep on the sofa. I’ll be right in here if you need me.”_

Mac made to respond and then changed his mind mid-syllable. In the end he simply nodded, he stopped by his linen cupboard on the way and doubled back and awkwardly presented some sheets and a blanket to her, she smiled at him. She has such an amazing smile, god he wanted to kiss her, he wanted to lose himself in her and forget all of this, but of course he couldn’t. He’d messed them up in his efforts to save the world and it was all…ruined. He was alone again…and it was all his fault. He rubbed his eyes and murmured goodnight and escaped. Desi looked on, she could sense he needed to talk, he wanted to say something to her and she needed to talk to him too. She loved him so much and… Codex, it was all tangled up. What he must have seen, to lose yet another family member after having found her, even if she was kind of a psychopath. But…Mac was never one for talking. Pushing him now wouldn’t help either of them. She’d just have to wait and see. She stripped off, settled herself onto the sofa wrapped in the blankets, she pulled her headphones out of her jacket and shut her eyes.

**

Mac tossed and turned, shifting in the covers, he kept seeing his Aunt’s face over and over again, hearing her words “the world needs you Angus” and then the explosion, the violent coughing ,the dust and…that it was another member of his family he couldn’t save. Then he saw Desi, Bozer, Riley…his father, all people he couldn’t help. He’d failed them all again, his aunt, his mother…she’d be so ashamed of him. It had all gone wrong, they’d stopped Codex, but at what cost? And Codex would come back, it would always come back. He movements became wilder in bed, at one point he slammed one of his hands onto his bed side table, smashing the light onto the floor. Desi who had been falling asleep on the sofa next door heard the crash and raced inside. She turned on all the lights in the hope that it would wake him up. It did not, he was too consumed by sleep and the dream. She caught his hand as he jerked out again. She grabbed the other hand worried he might do himself more damage. She called his name softly, then louder and louder until she was yelling at him

_“MAC WAKE UP!!!”_

He jolted awake pulling his wrists away from her. He was breathing hard, sweat was pouring down his face. He looked around wildly and then saw Desi’s face and his racing heart slowed down

 _“Hi”_ she said simply

 _“I’m sorry if I woke you.”_ Mac responded sheepishly looking at his hands

_“I don’t mind, do you want to talk?”_

_“Not really.”_

_“What did you see?”_

_“What?”_

_“You were dreaming. What did you see?”_

_“My Aunts face…I…”_ Mac hesitated for a moment and then it all came out, he stumbled over the words, unusual for him. The non-sanitized version (not fit for mission reports) in garbled phrases and incomplete sentences. What had happened at Codex, Desi had heard Mac’s initial explanation, but her heart broke for him hearing it from his mouth. His guilt, his worry, how was he going to fix it, his mom, all the work she had done, it was all wasted, it was a mess and it was his fault, she smiled sadly at him. He ended up running his hands through his hair as he so often did when he was worried. He got out of bed and started to pace. He continued on, his aunt came back into the rant again…, Desi sat on the edge of the bed and waited. He wasn’t usually so talkative, it was probably tiredness, it had made him almost drunk and the honesty poured out..

_“I keep seeing it, she’s there and she took the blast for me, I mean that bomb it was meant for me, I should disarmed it or I should have died and she saw the light I mean, she saw it at the end. She saw what Codex was and she lost her life for it, it’s like…it’s my father all over again…you know what she said to me…the world needs you…and my father said something; “you’re the invaluable asset now.”…It was my job to stop Codex and I feel like….we’ve won this battle, but what about the next and what’s it cost?? The Phoenix? us? We all nearly died…I god.”_

At this point Mac started to rasp again, Desi got up and stopped him holding his hands. She put her forehead on his

_“Hey hey…slow down Mac. We did stop Codex, you did…the nuke didn’t go off. We’re all still here, you did that. Be proud of that and you’re Aunt…she did what she thought was right…so did your father. That is not your fault…Look Mac…let me finish, you’re right too Codex isn’t gone. We have probably a lot of battles to fight still….but we’ll defeat them…as a team. We’ll find a way to fight them...I know it”_

_“Desi…I…what about the rest of it? I mean Codex...is, it’s not that they’re right. But the world…it’s a mess.”_

Desi sighed, Mac wanted to fix the world, of course he did.

_“Mac, you can’t fix everything, at least not immediately. But…I know you do…and I know you feel responsible for it. You just can’t…I know…look what about the research? I mean you said all the research your mother did, it was valid. I mean some if might a bit about of date, but surely it would still be important? She was a scientist like you? Maybe you could present it? I don’t know, find someone to listen to you…”_

Mac who had been staring at his feet as he listened to Desi, looked up at her. He had a brainwave, his eyes lit up, he threw his arms around her

_“Thank you! Thank you! I’ll find a way, maybe a group of scientists, or it’s got to be politicians. They’ll be the ones to make the policy changes, it’s got to be a hearing or a public meeting…something with lots of press…I…Desi thank you!”_

Desi grinned at the profound change in Mac as she was bear hugged to with an inch of her life. He held her in his arms and lifted her off her feet, she hugged him too. Then they were back on the ground, he was staring at her, those beautiful blue eyes. He put his hand up to flick her hair away from her face, she swallowed.

 _“Desi...I”_ Mac said, stuttering

 _“One thing at a time Mac.”_ Desi responded, getting a handle on her own hammering heart under control.

And then the moment was gone, he put her down. But he kept hold of one of her hands and gave it a squeeze which she returned.

 _“You want to a watch a movie?”_ She said

He nodded and followed her out of the bedroom. Desi made a quick pit stop for chips and Mac laughed, the first time she had heard him laugh in months. A weight lifted off her stomach, maybe they’d be okay after all. They settled onto the sofa and switched on the TV. 

**Author's Note:**

> Okay so I'm trying to escape my writing to do more Desi writing and to develop Bozer and Riley. I think their friendship is one of the best things in the series so wanted to nod to it here, did I get it right? Please tell me


End file.
